You asked about some books I like. On some of the meaty topics
over the
last few days on NDS, stuff like existence, consciousness,
Advaita,
Madyhamika, Buddhism, etc., here are some I like a lot. Some
books are
Western, some are Eastern. These come to mind readily. There are
many
more I like, but I'd have to browse my library at home.

-UPANISHADS, Vol 4 of 4 volumes (Vedanta Press, Swami
Nikhilananda trans.)
Contains the Taittiriya and Chandogya Upanishads
See especially the appendix on, with a great argument
on how there's no difference between the waking state
and the dream state!

7. Sky Dancer- the Life and Songs of Lady Yeshe Tsogyal(trad.
Keith Dowman)

8. The Six Vajra Verses

B-3. Yogachara

C. ADVAITA VEDANTA

"Verse 5. The essence of the whole Vedanta is this
Knowledge,
this supreme Knowledge: that I am by nature the formless,
all-pervarsive Self. Verse 6. There is no doubt that I am that
God who is the Self of all, pure, indivisible, like the sky,
naturally stainless." - from Advahuta Gita of
Dattatreya(trans.
Sri Ramakrishna Math)

"Verse 5. The essence of the whole Vedanta is this
Knowledge,
this supreme Knowledge: that I am by nature the formless,
all-pervarsive Self. Verse 6. There is no doubt that I am that
God who is the Self of all, pure, indivisible, like the sky,
naturally stainless." - from Advahuta Gita of
Dattatreya(trans.
Sri Ramakrishna Math)

You may find free on line Advaita Vedanta texts, so you may
search the web on the titles of the works or of the authors.
Buying cheap books from India direct, from Advaita Ashrama(
Ramakrishna & Vivekananda order) it is also possible.

List
#8
1-WILL TO POWER/Friedrich Nietzsche
2-A NEW MODEL OF THE UNIVERSE/P.D.Ouspensky
3-statements of Sanai(essence of Sufism)
4-statements of Dionysius(belongs to the great world of the
buddhas)
5-AT THE FEET OF THE MASTER/(J. Krishnamurti)Annie Besant
6-fragments from Junnaid/(Sufi mystic,the master of al-Hillaj
Mansoor)
7-GOD SPEAKS/Meher Baba
8-MAXIMS FOR A REVOLUTIONARY/George Bernard Shaw
9-THE TEACHINGS OF HUI NENG/Hui Neng
10-anecodote/Mulla Nasruddin(He is not a fictitious figure, he
was a Sufi and his grave still exists)

List
#12
1-TALES OF HASSIDISM/Martin Buber(a Jew,What D.T. Suzuki did for
Zen, Buber has done for Hassidism)
2-I AND THOU/Martin Buber
3-DAS KAPITAL/Karl Marx
4-LECTURES ON PSYCHOANALYSIS/Sigmund Freud
5-MEETINGS WITH REMARKABLE MEN/Gurdjieff(It is not a fiction like
DON JUAN)
6-THE GRANTHA(tying down the leaves,a small book of poems)/(a
disciple of Kabir)
7-THE COMMUNIST MANIFESTO/Karl Marx and Friedrich
8-THE MYTH OF SISYPHUS/Marcel
9-THE HISTORY OF WESTERN PHILOSOPHY/Bertrand Russell
10-THE SONGS OF DAYA(She was a contemporary of Meera and Sahajo,
but she is far more profound than either of them)

List
#13
1-LUST FOR LIFE(not just a novel, it is a spiritual book)/Irving
Stone
2-THE AGONY AND THE ECSTASY(on Michelangelo)/Irving Stone
3-RESURRECTION/Leo Tolstoy
4-NOTES ON JESUS(the fifth gospel,has just been found in
Egypt)/Thomas(the body of Thomas is still preserved in Goa)
5-WAR AND PEACE(the whole history of human consciousness)/Leo
Tolstoy
6-THE MOTHER/Maxim Gorky
7-FATHERS AND SONS(should be read by everyone, because everyone
is entangled in some kind of relationship )/Turgenev
8-THE PHOENIX/D.H. Lawrence
9-PSYCHOANALYSIS AND THE UNCONSCIOUS/D.H. Lawrence(really a
revolutionary, a rebel,far more revolutionary than Sigmund Freud)
10-LIGHT OF ASIA/Arnold
11-BIJAK(means 'the seed' )/Kabir's selection of songs
12-ONE DIMENSIONAL MAN/Herbert Marcuse
13-I CHING
14-NADI KE DWEEP(ISLANDS OF A RIVER,a Hindi novel,it is a
meditator's novel)/ Satchidanand Vatsyayana

List
#16
1-The book is about an absolutely unknown Indian mystic, Shivpuri
Baba/Bennett(an Englishman,also the first man to discover
Gurdjieff)
2-LISTEN LITTLE MAN/Reich(he must have been possessed by some
unknown spirit,died in jail, condemned, reduced to a madman)
3-PRINCIPIA MATHEMATICA/Bertrand Russell and Whitehead
4-POETICS/Aristotle
5-THREE PILLARS OF ZEN(the most beautiful book written about
Zen)/Ross
6-THE GOSPEL OF RAMAKRISHNA/Mahendranath(a disciple of
Ramakrishna)
7-Ramateertha's books
8-PRINCIPIA ETHICA/G.E.Moore
9-THE SONGS OF RAHIM/Rahim Khan Khana(of the same height and same
depth as Kabir, Meera, Sahajo or Chaitanya)
10-DIVAN(a collection of poems)/Mirza Ghalib(the greatest Urdu
poet)
11-THE BOOK(his testament, his whole experience with Zen masters,
Zen classics)/Alan Watts(of tremendous intelligence,also a
drunkard)
??Books I have Loved?1982-1985

Kriben
Pillay:The works of
the following teachers are highly recommended:

Q:
Papaji, you recommend that we don't read books about awakening
because it just creates the preconception and expectation of what
awakening will feel like, taste like, of what it will be like.
What then do you hope to convey about it in an interview?

PAPAJI: I don't recommend that you read any sacred books or books
about saints. When you read a spiritual book, you will probably
like some part of it. If you read it and like it, you store it in
the memory. Later, you sit in meditation, trying to get freedom.
You want to be free, and you have a conception of freedom which
you have acquired from your books. When you meditate, this
preconceived idea will manifest and you will experience it. You
forget that what you are experiencing is something that is stored
in your memory. What you get is a past experience, not
enlightenment. The real experience is not an experience of a past
memory. The mind deceives you when you meditate. The mind is
always going to deceive you and cheat you, so don't depend on the
mind. If the mind wants or likes something, don't listen to it.
Whatever the mind likes, dislike it. Memory means past. When you
meditate, you are trying to execute a plan which is in your mind:
'I have to arrive at the place I have read about.' Your later
experience is therefore preplanned and that is what you get,
because whatever the mind thinks, it manifests. When you have a
thought of samsara, manifestation arises. This is your thought,
your wish. That is why the world manifests. It looks so real to
you because you have faith in its reality. Once you experience
that Reality is somewhere else, you will reject samsara
instantly. You will have a very new, very fresh experience. Each
moment will be new. You will not experience it with the mind.
Then there will be no mind, you will be all alone. This and this
alone is called 'experience'. I won't use the word experience
again because all experiences are planned from the past. It is
not really going to be an experience, it is going to be a very
direct meeting. For the first time you will meet That. You will
go to meet It after denuding your mind, after denuding all the
concepts of the mind. You have to go there undressed. Undress
everything. Be nude. Even denude yourself of the nudity. Do you
understand? The chamber of this Beloved is so sacred, this is the
only way you can enter. If you want to meet your Beloved, go
there. Who stops you? Do it now itself. It is so simple. To dress
up takes time. To undress is much easier. from http://realization.org/page/doc1/doc108a.htm

Scott
Morrison's list: Recommended Reading and Listening

Investigative,
Meditative, and Experiential Approaches

Editor's Note:
It is useful to remember that books are simply dried ink on
paper, offering ideas, instructions, stories, explanations,
inspiration, from the mind and heart of the author. When you pick
up a book, you are sharing with the author your greatest
possession - your time. All books, and this is particularly true
of the list below, are best read with great attention, healthy
skepticism, passionate curiosity, sincerity, and care. Suspend
both belief and disbelief, be unflinchingly loyal to the process
of truth, and your rewards in exploring the books below will be
truly extraordinary. If you are especially diligent, honest, and
willing to be intimate in that most sacred of places, where you
are now, you will find yourself putting down the book from time
to time, for a moment of great purity and exquisite beauty - an
open heart and an open mind.

I have read around
2000 spiritual books and here are the most
direct, enlightening and illuminating books I have read. They
also are part of the exact same spiritual path and therefore
work very well together.

RECOMMENDED BOOKS:

#1. Non-Dual Consciousness, The Flood Tide of Bliss

SRI RAMANA ANUBUTI (EXPERIENCE).

Published by the Bangalore Center for Learning.

Sri Ramana Maharshi glanced at Sri Muruganar and Sri
Murganars ego ended. This is Sri Muruganars
description of
that experience. It is one of the most detailed, clearly and
beautifully communicated descriptions of the experience of
Liberation (Awakening) ever written.

You can read a portion of Sri Ramana Experience in David
Godmans book

THE POWER OF THE PRESENCE, PART TWO

#2. GARLAND OF GURUS SAYINGS by Sri Muruganar.

Muruganar spent decades with Sri Ramana Maharshi.

This is a collection of Sri Ramana Maharshis teachings as
seen through the awakened eyes of Sri Muruganar. Here the
emphasis is on awareness.

#3. THE PATH OF SRI RAMANA PART 1 By Sri Sadhu Om.

The most detailed explanation of how to practice Self-inquiry
in print.

Excellent shift from asking the question Who Am I to
Self-attention.

Sri Sadhu Om spent five years with in the company of Sri
Ramana Maharshi and decades in the company of Sri Muruganar.

#4. THE SPIRITUAL TEACHINGS OF RAMANA MAHARSHI

published by Shambala. This includes the book WHO AM I, which
was the most recommended book by Sri Ramana Maharshi and it
also includes SPIRITUAL INSTRUCTION.

#5. A LIGHT ON THE TEACHING OF BHAGAVAN SRI RAMANA MAHARSHI

By Sri Sadhu Om. The Essence of Spiritual Practice.

#6. THE FINAL TALKS OF ANNAMALAI SWAMI edited by David
Godman.

Annamalai Swami spent decades with Sri Ramana Maharshi.

#7. FORTY VERSES ON REALITY by Sri Ramana Maharshi

#8. TALKS WITH RAMANA MAHARSHI published by Inner Directions
or TALKS WITH SRI RAMANA MAHARSHI published by Sri
Ramanasramam.

Hundreds of questions are answered here. Ken Wilber called
this book The living voice of the greatest Sage of the
twentieth century

A Sense of
the Morning: Nature Through New Eyes, by David B. HopeAs It Is, by Tony Parsons.Avalanche: Heretical Reflections on the Dark and the Light,
by W. Brugh Joy, M.D.Addiction and Grace, by Gerald G. May, M.DBio-Spirituality, by Peter A. Campbell & Edwin
M. McMahonDancing Wu Li Masters, by Gary ZukavDialogue with Death: The Spiritual Psychology of the Katha
Upanishad, by Eknath EaswaranDiscovering Your Souls Purpose, by Mark
Thurston.Doing Nothing, by Steven Harrison.Dream Work, by Jeremy TaylorExperience and Philosophy, by Franklin
Merrell-WolffLoving What Is, by Byron Katie.Mystcs As A Force for Change, by Kisirkumar Ghose.Path of the Kabbalah, by David Sheinkin, M.D.Society of Mind, by Marvin L. MinskySoul Prints, by Marc GafniSpectrums of Consciousness, by Ken WilberTao Te Ching (New English Version), by Stephen
MitchellThe Black Butterfly, by Richard Moss, M.D.The Essential Ken Wilber, ShambhalaThe Gurdjieff Work, by Kathleen Riordan SpeethThe Hidden Gospel, by Neil Douglas-KlotzThe Holographic Universe, by Michael TalbotThe Magnificent Addiction, by Phillip Kavenaugh,
M.D.
The Myth of Freedom, by Chogyam TrungpaThe Power of Now, by Eckhart Tolle.The Seat of the Soul, by Gary ZukavThe Second Miracle, by Richard Moss, M.D.The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success, by Deepak
ChopraThe Varieties of Religious Experience, by William
James.Think On These Things, by KrishnamurtiToward A Psychology of Awakening: Buddhism, Psychotherapy,
and the Path of Personal and Spiritual Transformation, by
John Welwood

# The Spell of the
Sensuous: Perception and Language in a More-Than-Human World by
David Abram
# Original Wisdom: Stories of an Ancient Way of Knowing by Robert
Wolff
# My Name is Chellis and I'm in Recovery from Western
Civilization by Chellis Glendinning
# Running on Emptiness: The Pathology of Civilization by John
Zerzan
# The Alphabet Versus the Goddess: The Conflict Between Word and
Image by Leonard Shlain
# Language Diversity and Thought: A Reformulation of the
Linguistic Relativity Hypothesis by John Arthur Lucy
# Language in Mind: Advances in the Study of Language and Thought
by Dedre Gentner
# The Power of Babel: A Natural History of Language by John
McWhorter
# The 'Language Instinct' Debate by Geoffrey Sampson
# Philosophy of Language: A Contemporary Introduction by William
Lycan
# A Companion to the Philosophy of Language by Crispin Wright
# Language and Reality: An Introduction to the Philosophy of
Language by Michael Devitt and Kim Sterelny
# Beyond Theology: The Art of Godmanship by Alan Watts
# The Lazy Man's Guide to Enlightenment by Thaddeus Golas
# Enlightenment for Beginners: Discovering the Dance of the
Divine by Chuck Hillig
# The Myth of Enlightenment: Seeing Through the Illusion of
Separation by Karl Renz
# Nonduality: A Study in Comparative Philosophy by David Loy
# Advaita Vedanta: A Philosophical Reconstruction by Eliot
Deutsch
# The Book of One : The Spiritual Path of Advaita by Dennis Waite
# Awake in the Heartland: The Ecstasy of What Is by Joan
Tollifson
# What's Wrong with Right Now Unless You Think About It? by
Sailor Bob Adamson
# Presence-Awareness: Just This and Nothing Else by Sailor Bob
Adamson
# Awakening to the Natural State by John Wheeler
# Shining in Plain View by John Wheeler
# Oneness by John Greven
# Being: The Bottom Line by Nathan Gill
# I Hope You Die Soon: Words on Non-Duality by Richard Sylvester
# The Albigen Papers by Richard Rose
# If You Meet the Buddha on the Road, Kill Him! The Pilgrimage of
Psychotherapy Patients by Sheldon Kopp
# Killing the Buddha: A Heretic's Bible by Jeff Sharlet and Peter
Manseau
# What Would I Believe if I Didn't Believe Anything: A Handbook
for Spiritual Orphans by Kent Ira Groff
# To Know as We Are Known: Education as a Spiritual Journey by
Parker J. Palmer
# A Language Older Than Words by Derrick Jensen
# The Culture of Make Believe by Derrick Jensen
# The Greatest Spiritual Secret of the Century by Thom Hartmann
# The Prophet's Way: A Guide to Living in the Now by Thom
Hartmann
# Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse
# Demian by Hermann Hesse
# Narcissus and Goldmund by Hermann Hesse
# Steppenwolf by Hermann Hesse
# The Day Philosophy Dies by Casey Maddox
# The Razor's Edge by W. Somerset Maugham